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Is a neutral expression also a neutral stimulus? A study with functional magnetic resonance

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Abstract

Although neutral faces do not initially convey an explicit emotional message, it has been found that individuals tend to assign them an affective content. Moreover, previous research has shown that affective judgments are mediated by the task they have to perform. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 21 healthy participants, we focus this study on the cerebral activity patterns triggered by neutral and emotional faces in two different tasks (social or gender judgments). Results obtained, using conjunction analyses, indicated that viewing both emotional and neutral faces evokes activity in several similar brain areas indicating a common neural substrate. Moreover, neutral faces specifically elicit activation of cerebellum, frontal and temporal areas, while emotional faces involve the cuneus, anterior cingulated gyrus, medial orbitofrontal cortex, posterior superior temporal gyrus, precentral/postcentral gyrus and insula. The task selected was also found to influence brain activity, in that the social task recruited frontal areas while the gender task involved the posterior cingulated, inferior parietal lobule and middle temporal gyrus to a greater extent. Specifically, in the social task viewing neutral faces was associated with longer reaction times and increased activity of left dorsolateral frontal cortex compared with viewing facial expressions of emotions. In contrast, in the same task emotional expressions distinctively activated the left amygdale. The results are discussed taking into consideration the fact that, like other facial expressions, neutral expressions are usually assigned some emotional significance. However, neutral faces evoke a greater activation of circuits probably involved in more elaborate cognitive processing.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Spain (MICINN-PSI-2009-09067).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Psychology and Health, Facultad de Psicologia, Autonomous University of Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco s/n, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Fernando Carvajal, Sandra Rubio, Juan M. Serrano, Lara Pacheco & Pilar Martín

  2. Department of Psicologia Basica II, Facultad de Psicologia, UNED, Madrid, Spain

    Marcos Ríos-Lago

  3. Unidad de Investigación Proyecto Alzheimer (UIPA), Fundación CIEN-Fundación Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain

    Marcos Ríos-Lago & Juan Alvarez-Linera

  4. Sección de Neurorradiologia, Hospital Ruber Internacional, 28034, Madrid, Spain

    Juan Alvarez-Linera

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  1. Fernando Carvajal
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  2. Sandra Rubio
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Correspondence to Fernando Carvajal.

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Carvajal, F., Rubio, S., Serrano, J.M. et al. Is a neutral expression also a neutral stimulus? A study with functional magnetic resonance. Exp Brain Res 228, 467–479 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3578-1

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